Lunar New Year - One Nasty Hongkonger

The Gross Dude sitting the table next to us.

This man was so revolting and inspiring. For nearly an hour, he sat hunched over plate after plate shoveling food into his mouth. The way in which he attacked everything edible set in front of him was incredible.

Lunar New Year - Temple Street

Temple Street Night Market
庙街

Markets in Asia are like cathedrals in Europe: If you've seen 2, you've seen them all. But, unlike cathedrals, markets always offer a delicious selection of street food, so we generally don't hesitate to add them to our itineraries. Usually, our main grievance with markets is the scorching afternoon temperatures, so a night market was a welcomed change.

After lubing up at Busy Suzy, and getting kicked off of the fire engine, we hopped into a cab and headed to Temple Street. We were expecting the standard market stalls offering tons of junk we didn't want and carts selling tasty treats, but we were more than pleasantly surprised by what we found. The part of the market where our driver dropped us off was unlike any market we've ever seen. It was mostly food, and not meat or produce, but kitchen after kitchen serving up awesome looking (and smelling) feasts.

Checking things out

During the day, cars probably drive down this street!

Mmmmeats!

The first open table we could find. And we had to hover for quite some time to snag this filthy picnic table...

It's not our mess

Everyone knows wealthy, educated prawns taste better!

Ahhh, the girl from The Ring!

Mmmm, garlic mussels

Man, were they tasty!

They're gone :(

The entire area was like this: crowded and chaotic

Razor clams in black bean sauce

After licking every shell clean of sauce, and before starting in on the plates, we decided a restaurant change would be a smarter decision. We wandered around a bit, checking out people's tables and taking wafts from kitchens so that we could make the most informed decision possible.

Smoked meats

Dippin' sauce

What you really come to a night market for!

Feast Round 2

Our wandering and sniffing led us to a crowded, tiny restaurant down an alley. It was really just a door between some large air conditioning units that had a crowd of smoking, drunk men around it. It smelled like heaven and looked super sketchy, so we knew we had made the right choice!

Garlic sauteed broccoli

More clams
(in a spicy black bean sauce this time)


An amazing eating opportunity!

Lunar New Year - Fire Engine Photo Shoot

After we hit the 2 hour mark at Busy Suzie, we were lubed up and ready to eat. On the way out of Heritage 1881 (the weird name of the upscale shopping center Busy Suzie was in), we discovered a Dennis model fire engine from 1940. Naturally, we hopped the stanchion ropes and climbed aboard to snap some pictures.

Fire Chief Kimball

After Andrew's photo was taken, he jumped down to trade places with Judy, and that's when the real photo shoot began. We had no idea Judy could be so expressive with her face...

Oh my God, there's a fire...sale!
(We've taken this Arrested Development reference way too far...)

You're goin' down flames...

Nervous

handicapped

Not sure on this one...

During this one a security guard shined his flashlight on us and made us leave, the jerk. (In her rush to hop down Judy hit her shin and got a giant bruise that lasted well after the holiday.) In our defense, there was no sign that said "Do not have a photo shoot on this antique fire engine." Had the party-poopin' security not run us off, the picture taking could have gone on all night!

Lunar New Year - 香港 HK2

Checking out of the Central Park

文武廟
Man Mo Temple

Really?

Is that the kind of calendar you carry around with you and look at while walking?

World's Worst Hostel

We realized right away that the booking error that landed us in the Central Park was actually more like a divine power stepping in and saving our Hong Kong trip. The place we were supposed to stay for both nights was awful. It was dirty, it smelled and the toilet didn't work. Which we only found out after Andrew punished it... ☹☹☹

Just Awful...

Our View
On the bright side, there were no hawks!

Huge flower-covered table lamp

Waiting for the elevator


S / M / L

Cut veggies with olive tapenade and humus for dipping

Spicy steamed carrots with peanuts

Seared tuna

Green beans in marinara sauce

Some of the descriptions don't sound too great, we know, but actually the carrot salad and the green beans were the big winners!

Find one near you! (if you live in Hong Kong)
http://www.smlrestaurants.com/

Asian Scott Baio!

Clay Pot Panorama

A cellphone cover vending machine!

View of HK from the ferry headed to Kowloon

A zombie and a retired Keebler elf...

Ready for Valentine's Day

Nothing says "I love you" like a hedge maze!

World's Cutest Canned Corn!

Dim Sum Snack

Actually really spicy...

Asia has really honed our ability to find all-you-can-eat-and-drink happy hour specials. This one, at Busy Suzie was a 2 hour all-you-can-drink special that came with three appetizers. The appetizers didn't end up being much at all, but the wine, beer and sake were delicious! And, the small appetizers were perfect because we were really just trying to occupy ourselves until the Temple Street Night Market began, so the street food feast could begin!
We started on the patio, but got a little cold, so we moved inside to the bar area of the restaurant.

Vodka tonic and sake...